Hope Seen for U.S.-Philippine Base Pact : Diplomacy: Some ‘substantive discussions’ have begun after bitter initial sparring. There is no agreement on the cost or duration of the accord.

After months of polite sparring, American and Philippine negotiators took the gloves off this week in what seemed the most acrimonious talks yet over the future of strategic U.S. military facilities in the Philippines and, ultimately, formal relations between the two longtime allies.

Moreover, after four days of talks in the fourth round of negotiations, they remain far apart on the most difficult issues of all: how long the United States may stay and how much Washington must pay for Pentagon operations here.

But, as U.S. special negotiator Richard L. Armitage flies home today, American officials privately are guardedly optimistic about ultimately concluding an agreement with Manila that allows reduced but continued use of Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay naval facilities, rather than a sudden pullout, as the Philippines had initially demanded.

“For the first time, we’ve moved beyond rhetorical battles to substantive discussions,” one U.S. official said. “At the end of the last round, we were 180 degrees apart. Now we’re closer.”

For the first time, for example, the Philippine team presented its own drafts of a facilities agreement and a so-called SOFA, or status-of-forces agreement, to cover such things as taxes, immigration, auto registration and criminal jurisdiction.

And, before the talks began, the chief Philippine negotiator, Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus, visited the Subic Bay facilities, even excitedly standing on the deck of the battleship Missouri, where he recalled covering the signing of Japan’s surrender in 1945 as a correspondent in World War II. His aides were given extensive briefings and tours.

“They (Philippine negotiators) were better prepared this time,” the American official said. “We were beating our heads against the wall in previous sessions. Now, they’ve seen the bases . . . so we’re speaking the same language. That helps.”

For its part, the United States agreed to hand over three aging communications facilities and the Camp John Hay rest and recreation resort in Baguio, but U.S. forces will retain some access to the facilities. For example, the Philippine air force will take over Wallace Air Station, including its radar, but Americans will be allowed to use the site for technical support and training.

Rafael M. Alunan III, the sometimes prickly Philippine spokesman, went so far Friday as to report “some signs of progress” and “a few tentative agreements.” His American counterpart, Stanley Shrager, cited “forward movement” and “continued progress.”

That was a far cry from the bitter verbal broadsides that dominated earlier in the week.

On Wednesday, after the first day’s full session, a somber Shrager read a harshly worded statement that Armitage had delivered to Manglapus warning of “irreparable harm” to relations and urging Manila to avoid an outcome that would be “interpreted by the U.S. public as an act of anti-Americanism.”

On Thursday, an equally sober-faced Alunan responded in kind. The Philippine panel was “shocked,” he said, saying Armitage had displayed a “narrow view” and “insensitivity.”

“Just because we do not agree with the U.S. at the negotiating table does not mean we are anti-American,” Alunan said. “This is absurd.”

Alunan, citing the “inequity of our old relationship,” took special umbrage at Armitage’s charge that Manila was acting in an unnecessarily confrontational way while U.S. troops prepared for war in the Persian Gulf.

“I believe that to criticize our phase-out stand in the name of ‘Americans preparing to fight and die in the gulf’ is insensitive and in poor taste,” Alunan said. “We have done right by America.”

With a self-imposed deadline of Jan. 31, the two teams hope to meet at least once again later this month to hammer out a draft outline. Then comes the hardest part: selling the agreement to skeptical senators in Washington and Manila.

For now, one official said, the week’s histrionics are best seen as “the typical high drama” that often passes for politics in this unruly country.

“You kick them, you kiss them,” the official said. “That’s negotiations.”